Vulcan never told me how many people were on the first floor. But from the looks of it, it wasn’t just a hundred. There were a couple of them we left behind, including those mountains filled with corpses. Unfortunately, I had to bury my conscience away and let those people die from the depths of the first floor.As soon as all thirty of us arrived at the second floor, I immediately shot a few more Pests creeping upward and eventually closed the hatchet. A loud thud echoed from our site as I closed the damned thing. After securing the only entry from the first floor, we arrived at the second floor. And when we glided our eyes at our surroundings, the environment had hastily changed.The first floor contained a remote land filled with nothing but sand and towering rocks. I had found no signs of life from that area, except for me. I couldn’t call these survivors living beings, since they were created by Vulcan from the portal’s magic. Despite showing signs of human emotions, these indivi
We had been wandering around the place, but we didn’t find anything worth our time. After what had happened with the groups that left our party, we were now standing at eleven people, including me. It was easier for me to handle and protect a small number of groups. But this wasn’t just protecting them. It was saving every person who I could save with these two hands of mine.As we trod deeper inside the jungle, the sun high above us had finally faded its light Soon after, the darkness would consume this world. And if that happened, maybe the Pests would attack us under the cover of the night. If the worst occurred, maybe Vulcan would attempt to seize me and take the achievement away from me.Just as I was lost in thought, another panel showed up and a direct message inserted itself in my mailbox. It came from a familiar friend. And when the sapphire box appeared, the environment changed for the better or for the worse. But instead of checking my surroundings, I first told the group t
As we prepared our tents and our mattresses, the ten people held a conversation. They talked about many things, including their past lives they have remembered. But it was painful for me to listen to. I knew that these people were just fabricated inside the mind of Vulcan. That old man just gathered the data from the people he knew and placed their memories inside these puppets. There were no side effects or consequences in copying the exact memories of these people. In spite of that, these people still believed that they were real even though they weren’t. The topic soon curved and brought me to the centre of their conversation. These survivors kept asking me questions about my personal life, which I half-heartedly obliged. They were saved by an adventurer. And it wouldn’t hurt to share my life with them and tell them that I was still a human being like them. “Some adventurers bluntly tell us that we don’t have to know about them. I’m sorry for asking about your personal life, adv
When I was too focused on watching the place, someone tapped my shoulders. As I averted my gaze and turned around, the boy who I had first saved met my eyes. He had a worried look on his face, as if telling me that the boy feared, not only for his life, but also for his mother as well. That kid came to me and tugged the ends of my attire. I had my mask on, but it appeared that this child saw right through me.“Is everything alright, Aoi? Are we going to be alright?”This child knew my name after I held a conversation with everyone else. Although I told them to not use my name willy-nilly, it didn’t matter right now, considering that we were inside an artificial portal. And the government or the Crimson Guild wouldn’t breach this dimension.I shuffled the boy’s already crazed hair and patted his head. “It’s fine. Don’t worry. It’s just the…” I paused before continuing my sentence. “The boars and a wild forest fire happened away from us.” “Are you sure? You’re not lying, are you?” the
Another panel came across my face and blocked my view. When I opened the message, Vulcan’s name was written on the sender. That old man knew what I was up to. [Don’t worry about the fifty remaining survivors, kid. They are waiting for you near the exit. But you need to be quick on your toes, Aoi. Those monsters - rather, Pests - are coming after them as well. The more time you spend here, the less people you could save.] That was the trick that I had anticipated. Vulcan deliberately placed the fifty survivors beside our only exit filled with Pests surrounding the area. And even though the rest of the survivors were only fifty, they were still people I had to save. This was a simulation. But these occurrences could also happen in real time, so I had to make my decision count. The things the survivors and I had prepared were already on the ground. Our necessities contained some packed food reserved for the next few days, including berries, cooked and preserved meats, spices, salts, a
I computed inside my head the overall distance of the place and the amount of time we would need to reach the other side, including other casualties we might face once we reached the latter area. We still didn’t know if the horizon would lead us to the stairs, so I just had to multiply the distance and time twice after gathering the results. As it turned out, the road measured around five kilometres. By adding another five kilometres for good measure, we would have ten kilometres in total. Our group could walk for around ninety minutes or run continuously for seventy seventy minutes to reach the goal. However, there was one problem. Given our circumstances and the age related to our group, most survivors couldn’t run fast enough compared to me. And our party wouldn’t run consistently, given the aforementioned problems. So I deduced that eleven of us would arrive at the end of this line around eighty to ninety minutes, as long as nothing obstructed our way. But I doubted that would ha
The two scouts returned to the main party and joined themselves with the rest of us. Everyone who had their weapons prepared them in their hands and glanced in every direction. I also heightened my senses and attempted to locate any anomalies approaching our way. It won’t be long until that monster appears from those sea of trees, so I had to be wary about them. We had the chance to escape and let the old man die a noble and lonely death. However, everyone refused. When I raised that question to the survivors, each of them said the same thing “We will fight together and escape together. Nobody should be left behind!” It was a poetic line, yet risky line. However, it was better than nothing, as everyone presented their defensive stance and remained in formation while waiting for the intruder to come in. But we didn’t let mothers and their children fight for our stead even though we lacked the manpower to fight a horde. These people were the ones we had to protect. So we didn’t let the
“What do we need to do, Aoi,” one survivor asked.The mother and her child braced themselves for impact as the monsters kept creeping closer in our direction. There were creatures in front of us and monsters at our flank. There was no way for us to escape. And the only thing left for us to do was to fight our way onward, together with the people and my sniper. This would be a mesys battle, but it was the only option left for our group. Even though my sniper and my magical bullets could deal tons of damage, the beasts ambushing us were far too many. I could save myself and kill them while dodging their attacks, but I wasn’t alone. These people behind me needed my protection, and if I let my guard down the survivors might die. “Everyone, move if I move. Stop when I stop. Let’s proceed one little step at a time.”If Neil Armstrong took baby steps on the moon and finally achieved his goal, we could do that too. We couldn’t risk it and charge straight onward without a plan. If we do just